How Cowboys Enjoyed Their Beer Chilled

Cowboys in the Wild West, a period spanning from 1850 to 1900, mostly drank beer and whiskey. While whiskey was more available and favoured, beer was also widely consumed, and cowboys would go to great lengths to obtain a cold beer, which was considered a treat.

Beer was safer to drink than water

While it is a popular belief that beer was considered a safer alternative to water, this is not entirely accurate. The notion that water could carry diseases is a relatively modern concept, and historically, drinking water was commonplace. People understood that water could be either good or bad, but this perception was primarily based on smell and flavour rather than any knowledge of bacteria or microbes.

However, it is true that beer was often consumed as a safer alternative to water, especially in the Wild West era of the United States, which spanned from approximately 1850 to 1900. During this period, European settlers moved west of the Mississippi River to settle new lands. These early settlements often lacked the latest water purification strategies, and alcoholic beverages like beer and whiskey were often safer options. The fermentation process and the presence of alcohol in these drinks helped eliminate dangerous microbes and parasites.

Additionally, saloons in these settlements often advertised free lunch for patrons who bought a drink, making beer or whiskey an easy and inexpensive way to fill one's stomach during a hard day's work. Beer was often home-brewed by saloon owners, and it was typically brewed from grains that were not used for food, resulting in lower quality. As the era progressed, some saloons gained access to larger breweries and could offer higher-quality beer to their patrons.

It is important to note that while beer was considered safer than potentially contaminated water, it was not always served cold. Some saloons stored beer underground in caves or "ice houses" to keep it chilled, but many served warm beer, especially in locations far from areas with access to natural ice or snow.

Beer was often home-brewed

The beer was also often diluted with "enhancers" or water by saloon owners to maximise profits. A glass of beer typically cost around 10 cents, which is about $1.77 in today's money.

In the early days of the Wild West, most beer was home-brewed and devoid of hops, as they didn't grow well in many hot places. However, as more German immigrants, who knew the art of brewing, moved West, kegged beer started to become more popular. These brewers introduced better grains, water sources, yeasts, and, crucially, hops.

The earliest brewery in the US was Yuengling, founded in 1829 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Of the top ten oldest breweries in the US, five were in Wisconsin, which had a large German population. As a result, Wisconsin came to have more bars per capita than any other state in the Union.

While beer was often home-brewed, it was also sometimes sourced from larger breweries that were popping up across the country. These breweries would sell kegs of beer to saloons, which offered a higher-quality product to their patrons.

Beer was not always cold

While the classic image of the Wild West often involves cowboys and gunslingers drinking in saloons, the reality is that beer was not always served cold. In fact, it was often served at room temperature or warmer, and the availability of cold beer varied depending on the location and resources of the saloon.

In the early to mid-1800s, most beer was home-brewed and lacked hops, as they didn't grow well in many hot places. The beer was made from lower-quality grains not used for bread-making and had a sweet taste similar to whiskey mash before distillation. It was also not artificially carbonated, so it only needed to be cool to be refreshing and tasty.

Saloons in colder areas of the West took advantage of the climate to keep their beer cool. They would harvest ice from frozen lakes in the winter and store it in ice houses, insulating the blocks of ice with sawdust to keep them from melting for months. Some saloons located near cool mountain streams would fill cisterns with the cold water to store and cool barrels of beer.

In the late 1800s, the first commercial refrigeration of beer began in the United States, and ice houses started to crop up even in isolated places. However, refrigeration took decades to become widespread in the West, and many saloons continued to serve warm or room-temperature beer.

The ability to serve cold beer was also influenced by the development of transportation and the brewing industry. As more German immigrants moved West, bringing their brewing expertise, kegged beer started to gain popularity. The brewing industry became highly competitive, and breweries adopted the "tied-house" system of controlling saloons outright. This led to the construction of elaborate saloons to attract customers and advertise their beers.

Beer was cheaper than whiskey

In the 1800s, Americans drank a lot of whiskey. In fact, they drank so much that their consumption levels seem almost cartoonishly high by today's standards. Whiskey was extremely cheap and extremely available, and this led to a huge increase in consumption. By the 1820s, whiskey sold for twenty-five cents a gallon, making it cheaper than beer, wine, coffee, tea, or even milk.

The reason whiskey was so affordable was that it was made from corn, which was plentiful in America. After the Revolutionary War, there was a surplus of corn crops, which led to a boom in whiskey sales and consumption. Whiskey could be distilled domestically from raw ingredients sourced in the US, unlike rum, which had to be made from sugarcane and molasses shipped from British-controlled islands in the Caribbean.

Corn, in particular, was abundant in the newly settled "corn belt" of the Midwest. However, there was no economical way to transport the grain to market. Transforming it into liquor served the dual purpose of concentrating its value, making it economical to transport, and preventing it from spoiling. This led to a whiskey boom, with farmers shipping crates of whiskey east for cash.

The low price of whiskey was also due to the fact that it was often watered down by distillers to increase profits. In the Wild West, whiskey was unregulated and prone to variation from saloon to saloon. It may have been watered down and low in alcohol content, and sometimes it was even flavoured with questionable ingredients like old chewing tobacco.

While cowboys in the Wild West drank a lot of whiskey, they also consumed beer. Beer was often home-brewed by the saloon owner from grains that weren't used for food, so it was usually of poorer quality. It was also sometimes watered down by barkeeps to improve profit margins. Beer was typically served warm in the Wild West, as refrigeration was not widely available at the time.

Beer was often watered down

In the Wild West, from about 1850 to 1900, cowboys drank mostly small-batch, locally brewed beer and whiskey. While alcoholic beverages were considered safer than water, beer was not as available or favoured as whiskey.

Beer was often home-brewed by saloon owners, and it was sometimes watered down to help with profit margins. This practice of watering down drinks was not limited to the Wild West, as evidenced by a 2013 lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch, which accused the company of routinely watering down popular beers, resulting in beers that contained 3% to 8% less alcohol than advertised.

The watering down of beer in the Wild West was likely done to stretch the supply and increase profits, as the settlements were low in resources, and saloon owners were more interested in making money than producing a quality product. Additionally, beer was often made from grains that weren't used for food, resulting in a lower-quality product.

While some saloons may have served warm beer due to a lack of access to ice or refrigeration, others found creative ways to keep their beer cold, such as harvesting natural ice or snow and storing it underground in caves or "ice houses."

The practice of watering down alcoholic drinks has a long history, and it is often done to reduce costs, increase profits, or mislead consumers about the alcohol content of their drinks.

Frequently asked questions